Global crackdown ahead on tax dodges

About 40 countries will crack down on tax avoidance by multinational companies from 2017 under a global plan, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

Nations are committed to tackling "aggressive practices which erode the tax base and artificially shift corporate profits to low or no-tax jurisdictions," Secretary-General Angel Gurria said over the weekend at a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Cairns, Australia.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which includes the United States, is working on plans for a global exchange of information to stop tax-avoidance strategies used by companies such as Google, Apple and Yahoo. The new standards will see countries automatically share information gathered from their financial institutions and ensure international coherence of corporate income tax.

"We need to have global information and global action to go after tax cheats," said Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey, who hosted the Cairns meeting.